One Good Cop
by ProcurerFaith
Summary: Repost: AU. Matt and TK face off against one another - one as the cop, and one as the criminal. Can they reconcile before it's too late? Companion fic to 'Autumnal: A Prelude to Winter'.


Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. All Digimon characters are owned by Toei and A. Hongo and such. I am making no money from this fic. It is a just-for-fun project. The only bit I own is my own characters and the way the words are put together.

**Author's Note; 23rd June 2008** – Please remember, edits may not quite appear as you remember them, as I'm hashing together the beta and the original uploads. I do not plan to come back and amend this work (if I start picking holes in it, I'll never stop XD)

* * *

**One Good Cop**

"Give it up, Ishida!!" yelled Takeru Takaishi, his gun held erect by his head. He clutched the handle with both hands, like a life line. Sweat beaded his forehead, and he could feel it streaming into his eyes. He swept his arm across his forehead to get rid of the excess fluid. He stood, back to the wall, just around a corner in the 25,000,000 government building. His breathing was heavy.

He couldn't believe he was doing this.

Yamato Ishida was behind the opposite corner of the hallway. His own gun was held in a similar position to Takaishi's, but the cartridge had only one bullet left. He'd emptied the cartridge blindly into the corridor, not wanting to hurt the other man, but not able to just give up.

His shoulder bled from where Takaishi's last bullet had caught far too close. He could feel his lung fill with blood, but couldn't afford to leave and couldn't afford to give himself up.

He couldn't believe he was doing this, either.

"I told you to stay away, TK!!" yelled Ishida.

"You didn't give me a lot of choice, Matt! This is me, this is my job!"

"You _shot_ me!!"

Takeru shivered. He _had _shot his brother. _His brother_. And he'd reeled from it as much as he would have if it had been his own shoulder.

"I can't help it, _niisan_…" Takeru shut his eyes and smacked the back of his head against the wall reapeatedly.

Yamato lowered his head and shook it, bringing his hand up to his eyes to wipe away tears.

"I know, _otouto_…

"But I told you to stay away…"

* * *

_He inserted the key into the appropriate place in the car door. Trained instinct told him to look up. On the other side of the parking lot, he could see a tall, emaciated figure. He'd know that shape in his sleep. He waited for him to approach, and then looked down._

"_You know there's a warrant for your arrest, don't you?"_

"_I know, TK."_

"_If I see you, I'm supposed to arrest you."_

"_Then don't look up."_

"_Why are you here? If we're caught together, I'm dead-"_

"_If we're caught together, _I'm _dead, too."_

_Takeru tapped deep into his inner spirit- inexplicably linked with his elder brother. Their connection was so strong, that it took only a matter of seconds for Yamato to say._

"_Stop looking for the answer, _otouto_ . I'll tell you."_

_Takeru laughed, a slight chill to it._

"_Little brother… I'm too old for that, aren't I? _You're_ the only person I still let call me TK- and that's only because it's you and you gave me the name."_

_Yamato just smiled._

_Takeru opened the car door._

"_Are you getting in?"_

"_No. I'm just here to tell you to back off."_

"_It's not as easy as that, Matt. I've told the DCI that I can't work this case, but he's not having any of it. And if I tell him about you, he'll expect me to just hand you over."_

"_I know. But it's dangerous for you here, TK. I don't think I can protect you from these guys so well. You have a price on _your_ head, too."_

_Takeru looked up, shocked._

_He saw the look of expressive concern on Yamato's face._

"_Of course you do." Yamato replied to his brother's unasked question. "You're a cop, aren't you? A _good _cop."_

_Takeru shook his head, leaning on the roof of the car. He laughed._

"_God, it's never easy, is it? It's never cut and dry."_

"_Shades of grey, baby brother." Yamato smiled distantly. _

_A car pulled into the parking lot. The lights bright on their faces for a moment, they stood perfectly still, shock clear on their faces- trapped like myxamitosis-struck rabbits. They couldn't bring themselves to move, even as the man in the car parked and left the grounds. He glanced back at them, but he didn't make any other movement in regard of them. _

_Takeru and Yamato both gave sighs of relief._

"_I'm serious, Takeru. You get out of this now. For your own sake."_

"_What about you?"_

"_I got myself into this. I can't get out now, I'm in too deep. But I'm not dragging you down with me." Yamato put his hands on his brother's shoulders._

"_You know…you know I love you, don't you?" He was almost holding Takeru at arms length. His words were unsure, as though what he'd just said were syllables unfamiliar with his lips. He knew what would come next._

_Takeru hugged him._

_"Me too,_ niisan_." Yamato smiled at having the sentiment returned to him. After a few moments, he gently pushed his brother away._

_"I have to go, TK. Remember all I've said tonight, because something's brewing. Something big. And I don't want you to be involved in it."_

_"Matt-" Takeru began, but Yamato had already turned his back on the younger man and was walking away, the tails of the long coat he wore caught in the wind of the parking lot's empty space._

* * *

"I told you it was bigger than us, TK…" Yamato whispered. He coughed, suddenly unable to support himself. He brought his hand up to his face and swept the blood away from his mouth.

"What does he want, Matt? Why is he here?!" Takeru yelled, still holding the gun tightly. He didn't want to hold it, he wanted to throw it away, but knew he'd be dead meat within seconds.

"I can't tell you! The information alone will sign your death certificate, and I won't be the signee!"

"_Matt_! For _God's_ sake, tell me! Let _me_ save _you _for once!"

"You _can't_!" wailed Yamato. He fell to a fit of coughing again.

Takeru fought back the need to rush forward, the urge to help his brother as he ailed.

"God _dammit_…" he whispered under his breath.

"Takaishi? What's going on?" yelled his earpiece. Takeru's pause was too long for the liking of his superior.

"Takaishi, answer me _now_!"

"I've got Ishida covered. Send in the backup- fifth floor." He sounded regretful. He knew as soon as the backup got there, Yamato wouldn't even be given the chance to give up.

The door beside Matt burst open. Two men came rushing out. They took one look at Yamato and saw the blood that drenched his shirt. One stated,

"You failed, Ishida. You're weak."

"Yeah…too weak…" Yamato replied, his breathing hard and awkward. He was in serious pain; only adrenaline kept him up. The two men swung around the corner.

With an instant sinking feeling, Yamato realised they were heading towards Takeru.

"Matt?!" yelled Takeru. "Get out, now!" He could hear the approach of the two men and trembled. He knew the next step.

He leapt out from behind the wall.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three.

Takeru pulled the trigger repeatedly on his automatic, racing across the hallway, hoping his speed would be enough to save him until the next try. He heard the enemy gun move in the air, fear heightening his senses. He ducked instinctively, raising his arms in front of his head. It took him a second or two to realise that the bullets hadn't struck home.

Yamato shuddered as he heard the shots from the gang member's gun. He dived out from behind the wall in a fury, clipping the safety off his own gun and aiming it at the head gang member.

"Don't you shoot at my brother!!" Matt yelled, and pulled the trigger. In his weakened state, he recoiled with the shot, but didn't get another chance to move as another bullet split his ribs.

"_Itai_!!"

He fell back in a rain of blood and heard a mental scream. He knew it to be his little brother's.

Takeru instantly pulled the trigger on his final bullet, sending it crashing into the man who'd put lead in his brother. Yamato's aim had been true. He'd hit the first shooter square in the back, splitting his heart in two. It had invited the bullet which now drifted in his other lung.

The door behind Takeru slammed open, and more gang members rushed through, guns at the ready.

Takeru began to run. He fixated on his brother and ran.

He heard the clicking of metal on metal and prayed he still had enough speed to get beyond the shaking of his legs. He urged them to go faster.

Bullets shattered the corridor all around him. Instinctively, he shrunk into his arms and shoulders, making himself a smaller target.

_Not yet…not yet…_ he managed to think whilst dodging projectiles.

Reaching the ailing Yamato, he grabbed him by the shoulders of his top and dragged him around the corner, shielding his own face from the splinters of plaster being blown out of the wall.

Holding Yamato's face, he knelt down beside his brother.

"Matt…?"

"Urrrrrrrghhhh…"

Yamato coughed, his lungs too full of blood to do much else.

"Idiot!! You're always saving me- what are you thinking?!" yelled Takeru.

"I'm thinking…give me a gun…" Yamato smiled weakly.

"Not today, brother." Takeru tore off his shirt and bundled it up, pressing it into the wound in Yamato's chest. The elder of the two winced- hard.

"'S not gonna help…" Yamato grunted. He looked into Takeru's eyes.

Eight years of police service had hardened the once innocent face of his younger brother- but right now he was looking into the scared eyes of the eight-year-old who had once been nominated the bearer of hope.

Takeru averted his gaze, unwilling to stare too deeply into eyes which mirrored his own.

He looked around quickly, brought back to the urgency of the situation by more door slamming and the familiar sound of organised police backup shots. He stood, and grabbed Yamato by his sleeves again.

"Quick! In here!" He yelled, hearing the shots increase in frequency. He dragged Yamato through the closest doorway and slammed the door shut behind them.

There was a heavy oak desk in the office, and Takeru let go of his brother to rush across the room. With lots of heaving and grunting, he pushed over the desk. Paperwork and photographs spilled everywhere.

Racing back to his brother, he lifted him up and carried him to a semi-safe place behind the upended oaken desk. Lowering him to the floor, he brushed the long blonde hair out of Yamato's face.

"We'll be safe here."

"No…we won't. Stop trying to make me feel better …"

Takeru paused, breathing heavily. He listened intently to the unseen spaces beyond the door to the room. He could still hear shots, but couldn't tell whose they were.

He'd stored his gun in the band of his pants and he reached for it now, clutching it and leaning down, hand in his boot to get a spare cartridge.

Yamato shifted painfully and coughed some more.

"Got another one?"

"You can't shoot like that!"

"Wanna bet?"

Takeru turned on Yamato, his gun held high by his head.

"Let it _go_, Matt! It's over! You can't go anywhere like that!" Takeru's voice was full of badly-hidden concern.

"Give me the gun in your boot."

"What?"

"The gun in your boot. Give me it."

Takeru looked at the expression of determination on his brother's face; the expectant, extended hand. Despite the fact that he could hardly breathe now, despite the blood that trickled from his mouth, he was going to go out the right way. He was going to go out fighting for good, and not bad.

Takeru spent one more moment thinking about it- and then reached down to his other boot, grasping the icy handle of the Steyr STY M9 strapped to his ankle.

Yamato felt the weight of the gun in his hand.

_That_ felt better.

"Takaishi! I want you out of there! Now! We're pulling back!"

Takeru growled when he heard the voice in his earpiece. He clicked on his microphone and replied,

"You want out, then get out. I can't leave right now."

"What!?"

Takeru's eyes narrowed.

"I've got a score to settle with these guys."

"You get out of there now, Takaishi, or you're dead meat!"

"I'm already dead meat, thanks to you! I told you I didn't want this case, but you wouldn't listen!"

"I'm serious. Get out now, that's a direct order and if you disobey it, it's your badge." The voice was level, and deadly serious.

"Then _take_ my badge." Takaishi's voice was cold and final. He took the badge from his pocket, burning with indignation, and put it face down on the floor.

"_They shot my brother_." There was a tension-filled silence.

"Yeah, that's right. Yamato Ishida is my brother, and I'm proud of him- not of the things he's done, but of _him_. You can't change your blood, and I wouldn't want to."

There was another momentary silence on the earpiece. Yamato looked up at Takeru's face. Being able to hear only half of the conversation, he couldn't appreciate all that was said- but knew when he was being lovingly defended. A small smile crept across his face before he was taken by coughing. For a moment, all Yamato saw in Takeru's visage was his beautiful innocence, innocence that had been abused so badly that what was left had been locked in a box deep inside the younger man's heart.

"You're outta here, Takaishi." The voice snarled. "You just gave up everything."

"No, I just remembered what _everything_ was." Takeru snarled back.

"You're fired!"

"_Screw you_!!"

There was a malignant silence. Then Takeru heard the voice he had known and heard since childhood. The real voice of his DCI.

"Takeru…"

"Go to Hell, Tai. I thought _you _would understand."

Takeru wrenched the earpiece out and flung it aross the room. He had no further need of it.

He heard the heavy door being kicked hard. Takeru laughed bitterly to himself.

"And this is what they call a safe room?!" He felt a hand on his shaking arm.

"The Ishida- Takaishi brothers are together again… Let's do this….one last time…" Yamato fought. Takeru looked at his brother. His eyes filled with tears, and he nodded.

"You got it, _niisan_…"

Bullets cracked through the door of the room, snapping the lock in two.

The door slammed back into the wall, and bullets reigned.

Takeru and Yamato were side by side, aiming over the top of the desk. They fired repeatedly, managing to pick off many of the group from their vantage point. Blood mist was thick in the air.

No longer in control, Takeru Takaishi fired his gun until the last round had left the cartridge. Even when out of bullets, he kept pulling the trigger in desperate hope that something would save him.

And something did.

Suddenly it was over.

The back-up team finished the situation by creeping up behind the gang members and dispensing death loudly and quickly.

Takeru saw the masks and the black SWAT team uniforms and slid behind the desk.

He let his head fall back against the still upended desk and roll down until he gazed at his brother.

His own gaze was empty.

His brother's gaze was emptier.

"M-Matt?" Takeru whispered, his voice scared. He moved to his knees beside Yamato and lifted his face in his hands.

"Matt…don't you _dare_ die!! You are the one constant in my life and if you die, I'll…I'll kill you!" He shook his brother's face. He expected no response and was granted that expectation.

"Oh, Matt…" He pushed his face into his arms, clutching at his brother's body, holding it tight. He was still warm.

He hugged him with all the power and love he could muster- even though he knew that all the love he could give wasn't enough to bring Yamato back to him.

"Oh, God, _niisama_…" Takeru wept. He buried his head into Yamato's shoulder. Out of the blue, he laughed bitterly to himself.

"You know what? I didn't mean to shoot you, brother. I…I was trying…to _miss_…"

* * *

EPILOGUE

Takeru knelt by Yamato's grave. He had tended it for the past hour, cleaning the stone and placing creamy-white and blood-red roses on the mound.

He'd lost his job the same day he lost his brother. Apparently, Taichi Kamiya really _didn't_ understand.

Black listed and black-lipped, he'd drifted from job to job ever since. Although it had to be said; the bookstore was okay, and it gave him the quiet he needed to think.

A year on, he still thought of little else.

'_The Ishida-Takaishi brothers are together again…' _

Takeru smiled.

"One day, _niisan._ One day."

_-fini-_

* * *

Thank you very much for reading to the end :) The prequel to this fic, 'Autumnal: A Prelude to Winter' can also be found in my fic list :)


End file.
